Eurowings has said it plans to launch flights from Stuttgart and Cologne to Mostar next year in a statement on its official social media pages. It comes after Mostar was chosen as the low cost airline's newest destination from Cologne in a popular vote on Wednesday. The new routes will help overturn Mostar Airport's declining passenger numbers. General Manager, Marin Raspudić, said this was "just the beginning" of Eurowing's presence in the city. "I would like to thank the citizens of Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as our diaspora, for voting for Mostar. It shows that there is interest in Mostar, which means a lot. This has once again confirmed that Mostar Airport has potential", Mr Raspidić noted. He added that Eurowings is likely to launch flights from Dusseldorf as well.
Lufthansa's low cost subsidiary, Mostar Airport's management, representatives from the Bosnia and Herzegovina Directorate of Civil Aviation and local tour operators began talks over the introduction of flights from Stuttgart in January this year, after which the Premier of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton said the route would be subsidised. Flights were expected to begin this October but will now launch jointly with the new Cologne service next summer season. "We are in constant contact with Eurowings and we believe Cologne and Stuttgart are ideal destinations for Mostar and our diaspora. We are also in contact with Wizz Air and have commenced talks with Croatia Airlines as well. I hope that in the coming year we will have more scheduled flights. It is important that Eurowings will start first. When one comes the others will follow", Mr Raspudić said.
Mostar Airport has been in talks with Wizz Air over potential services from Sweden and recently held meetings with Croatia Airlines over the resumption of flights from Zagreb in 2018 following a twelve-year hiatus. Mostar has struggled to attract scheduled flights but sees a significant number of charter traffic throughout the year, carrying religious pilgrims visiting the nearby Medjugorje sight. It handled less than 60.000 passengers in 2016, down 20% on the year before due to fewer charters, making it Bosnia and Herzegovina’s third busiest airport behind Sarajevo and Tuzla but ahead of Banja Luka. During the first three quarters of 2017, it welcomed 38.223 travellers through its doors, down 20.2% on the same period last year. The airport handled a record 86.000 passengers in a single year prior to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, in 1990, but has been unable to surpass that figure ever since.
The entire vote thing was just a marketing ploy. They decided on these two routes months ago.
ReplyDeleteno shit sherlock
DeleteOf course they did. They even negotiated subsidies.
DeleteSo what, it was a brilliant and smart move of Eurowings to do it on this way.
DeleteThey got so much attention amd free marketing, so now many millions on people will know the existence of this route. And the poluarity will be good of those routes for sure
Agree with google driver. Good PR.
Deletegreat pr. if only the airport and the tourism board of the area would follow suit...
DeleteThe couldnt get better PR than this
DeleteGreat news for Mostar.
ReplyDeleteIt could also work if they open new routes from Dusseldorf and Berlin to Mostar too.
ReplyDeleteIt could! Lets see if Pax are willing to pay more than 29€. Unless they don´t its going to be hard to financially justify the route.
DeleteLet's first see how Stuttgart and Cologne work out and then we can think about new routes.
DeleteThey'll pay more than that, it's for sure. Everything else cost a lot more and takes forever.
Delete29 euro is nothing, they will pay about 50€ and the plane will be full
DeleteMeanwhile, BNX sits empty with no serious airlines or talks.
ReplyDeleteHopefully good times are coming for Mostar and Banja Luka will follow its example.
DeleteThe Tuzla scenario would be fantastic.
DeleteEven though there is low level of traffic at Mostar and Banja Luka, it amazes me that this country has 4 functioning airports and that all have international flights.
DeleteKad rastegnes pojam funkcionalan onda imas 4 aerodroma. Inace ni jedan nije dobar za moderan avio saobracaj pocev od sjj. Bosna je sva takva nefunkcionalna.
DeleteTi si "strucnjak" za takve zakljucke :-)
DeleteTi si ocigledno pravi "strucnjak" koji moze tako nesto zakljuciti. .-)
DeleteA tebi je dobar aerodrom koji ne radi nocu posle 22h.
DeleteOk. To se mora mijenjati.
Deleteu regiji nema aerodroma koji radi H24 prije Beca...
DeleteNaravno da ima. Aerodrom Beograd ima letove i u 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ujutru. I na Skoplju slecu letovi u 3 i 4.
DeletePod 24h misli se na prihvat i optremu zrakoplova i putnika a ne samo na prihvat, i to nema nijedan aerodrom u regionu.
DeleteKako mislis a ne samo prihvat? Air Serbia ima spic koji krece posle ponoci, Aeroflot ide u 00.50 a Aegean ima one nesrecne carter letove u 02.50
DeleteSplitski aerodrom radi 24/7
DeleteSamo leti.
DeleteYeah very mismanagement on Banja Luka airport, if they keep this go this way they will be bankrupt
DeleteWhy had traffic gone down so much over the past two years?
ReplyDeleteFewer charters from Italy.
DeleteAny particular reason?
DeleteThey found out Medjugorje was a sham?
DeleteSvi pravi vernici iz Italije su vec tamo bili nagledali se kamenjra i dosta. Drljaju to vec godinama.
DeleteMedjugorje is the biggest scam ever known to man. Even the Pope thinks so. I can't believe an entire airport built up their passenger base around it.
DeleteDuring the 1980s Medjurgorje used to be a hit for JAT. I remember JAT had groups of 100+ passengers on their flights from Singapore to Belgrade with pilgrims from the Philippines. Plus JAT made great use of its ATR42s to Mostar.
DeleteDont be so jalous guys ...
Delete@10.32 Interesting
Delete@ Google Driver, jealous of what exactly? That the Virgin Mary spoke to kids in the early 1980s? Or are you telling me you believe that?
DeleteI'm an ateist, but I smell in your comets a sense of jalousy of the income, so what, religous tourism is big buisness everywhere
DeleteSure so that means the Pope is also jelous of Mostar's income since he think it's a sham too. Mostar is beautiful and should be doing everything in promoting its natural assets. If more money was spent in tourism then this myth, I would be much more happy.
DeleteWell, if the airlines and airport can make a few bux from Medjugorije, why not.
DeletePope thinks it is scam? Can you show me same evidence on that?
DeleteFor example:
Deletehttp://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/papa-franjo-ukazanja-na-medjugorju-vide-ljudi-koji-od-toga-zive/824570.aspx
Medgorje and the supposed apparitions are not only a scam, exploiting amongst all the others, the most vulnerable people in particular...but is also an embarrassment for the Croatian population of Bosnia and beyond.
DeleteDude, what's wrong with you? Embaressment? Really? I am a Croat from Bosnia and Herzegovina (althoug I do not live there), I did not "invent" Medjugorje nor do I believe? So why should it be an embarassment for me? Firstly. Secondly: If somebody is a paying passanger and believes what he or she believes, who are you to judge wheteher it is justified for OMO to have routes to Germany or - in general - who are you to judge pax by the purpose of their travel? Third thing is that Medjugorje - although not true, at least I believe - nowdays a quite decent sight, an - with its surroundings - has a few things to offer, a contemplative place, where you still can pray (if Catholic) and meet a lot of people from all over the world. Been there a few times, althoug I DO NOT believe in the miracels. And last but not least, this route is NOT for pilgrims, since it is from Germany. It is for the diaspora of Herzegovinian Croats, which grew a lot during the past years. And of Course for Bosniaks and everybody else from Neum to Jablanica and from Mostar to Livno.
DeleteP.S.: And just an question of logic: If - I assume - some of you are Non-Catholic, why do you care whether the Pope has acknowledged Medjugorje... Should not matter to you. So stick to aviation and leave religion, personal beliefs and nationalities out of this.
^ you do realize Michael is a Croat himself?
Delete@ all - Sry for the typos...
DeleteI do I know. And the guy has often a point, I do appreicate his comments mostly. I really do. But he seems to be one of those Croats having a very prejudicial opinion regarding "BiH-Croats", probably without ever having been in Mostar, Medjugorje or in (western) Herzegovina. But nevertheless, I am sorry that it sounds as if I attacked him personally, my post was rather a general statement, because I think that a passanger is a passenger, no matter what's the purpose of his/her travel, that everybody has the right to believe what he/she wants, and that for sure the "Croatian population in Bosnia" as a such is not responsible for some scams. They, like every other (mostly Catholic) population are divided on this matter...
Delete@anaon 6:15 bravo, you sait the real thibg
DeleteNow just Wizz Air to start Malmo and that would be a great start.
ReplyDeleteWhy Malmö?
DeleteBig concentration of the diaspora from the Mostar area living there.
DeleteBecause half of all expats from Mostar live in Scandinavia.
DeleteI dont think the pax will be good on Malmo, as WizzAir already flies on Scandinavia to Tuzla
DeleteWith all the aircraft LH will be getting soon I wouldn't be surprised if we see more flights being added to ex-YU.
ReplyDeleteI might be wrong but I think this is the first time Eurowings is launching flights to a pretty much deserted ex-YU.
Until now it was mostly Ryanair and Wizz Air who had that honor.
Yep this is a first. The number of deserted ex-Yu airports is getting smaller. We will definitely be seeing more of EW around ex-Yu.
DeleteThey have mentioned INI as a potential destination so who knows, maybe we see it being launched the same time as more Mostar flights are announced.
DeleteI wonder what other airport they could serve on a year-round basis. Maybe Eurowings could take over BRU-ZAG from SN.
I think they have a lot of options to expand. First and foremost they haven't really done much in BEG. Sure there are a lot of routes between BEG and Germany but I think flights from Cologne would work.
DeleteAlso I think sooner or later they will set up a base in ex-Yu and ZAG would be a good choice for them in that case.
The only route I could see them launch to BEG is Berlin which is currently only served by Air Serbia.
DeleteI think Cologne could work on a summer seasonal basis. Otherwise, I don't see much room for expansion as the market is well covered.
I see a Zagreb base happen only when it becomes clear OU will go bust. Not before that.
Who knows, if SJJ pulls its act together they could set it up there.
I doubt SJJ will pull their act any time soon. Wizz Air was offering them 5 routes last year and they managed to stuff it up.
DeleteLet's see who happens first, BNX or SJJ. lol
Delete
DeleteThey way things are going, Tuzla will soon overtake Sarajevo in terms of passenger numbers.
@anon 9:28: Eurowings Europe will not set up any non-EU base in 2018. So, SJJ and BEG are out for the time being.
DeleteZAG is highly unlikely as long as the OU talks do not resume in any way. There are only two ways for ZAG to become a EWE base: 1) Integration of OU into EWE 2) sale of OU to a "hostile" party.
An EWE base could work in SPU and DBV, but they are not interested. PUY could work, but I have not heard of any initiatives going on...
If they are offered a sweet deal at SJJ then I don't see why they would walk away from that offer. However, I doubt it will happen either way. Not many airlines can make SJJ work.
DeleteIf Wizz can make SKP work then it can also make SJJ work.
DeleteOr OSI!
DeleteSo the third airport in BiH that will be developed. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHopefully they don't cancel these new routes like the planned ones to Sarajevo and Skopje.
ReplyDeleteHope so. Unlike Wizz they seem much more ready to cancel flights if they don't show immediate results.
DeleteMost Croatian immigrants live around Stuttgart so it makes sense flying from there.
ReplyDeleteWould they have considered this route without subsidies?
ReplyDeleteIt certainly helped them make the final decision.
DeleteIf you want Eurowings, Ryan, Wizz, Easy, to come to town you have to pay them and give them everything they ask for. And if you look at Tuzla, it's worth it 100%.
DeleteGood. Can't wait to finally see some serious airlines that can serve the local population and not just tourists from Italy going to Medjugorje. You can't do much with flights to Bergamo sold by Italian tour agencies.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they schedule these flights so it can be used for connecting traffic.
ReplyDeleteIs there really that much demand from/to Mostar from other parts of Europe?
DeleteOh yes, especially from Scandinavia. That is why the connectivity is important.
DeleteExcellent news for Mostar.
ReplyDeleteBosnia is becoming popular with LCCs
ReplyDeleteExcept for Wizz Air and Eurowings, which other LCC flies to Bosnia?
DeleteNorwegian, Pegasus, flydubai
Delete...germanwings...
DeleteWill they also add Podgorica and Brac flights which were in that voting competition?
ReplyDeleteHighly likely.
DeleteWell it's good that politicians are finally not blocking Mostar Airport like they have done so many times in the past.
ReplyDeleteWhen can we expect tickets to go on sale?
ReplyDeleteSoon.
DeleteThis is brilliant news for Croatian coast as well.
ReplyDeleteActually, it could take away some passengers from the congested Croatian coastal airports.
DeleteMany local politicians have been blocking Mostar Airport's development because of that reason.
Deletekome se vozi dva sata do hotela?
DeleteOd tolikih sezonskih linija koji lete za Split i Dubrovnik, baš će hrpa njih se odlučiti letiti za 2 sata udaljeni Mostar i još prelaziti granicu. How yes no.
DeleteSplit ima cjelogodišnju liniju za Cologne i Stuttgart. Tijekom ljeta i Split i Dubrovnik lete za 8 odnosno 9 linija Eurowingsa, pri čemu je Cologne i Stuttgart 5-7 letova tjedno. Zašto bi netko koristio Mostar za iste te linije, prelazio granicu, vozio se prelošom cestom? Koje to putnike iz obale bi mogao Mostar preuzeti Splitu i Dubrovniku?
DeletePutnici za ove letove će biti dijaspora, vjernici i turisti iz Mostara i Hercegovine. Ne i turisti iz Jadrana.
Za vas neupucene, autocesta je do Medjugorja.
DeleteMedjugorje-Mostar je 20 km.
Na turiste i ljetne linije za SPU i DBV nece utjecati, ali itekako zimi kada je i do polovina putnika na liniji npr. STR-SPU iz zapadne Hercegovine.
DeleteAir Serbia carried a great deal of pilgrims to Medjugorje on its DBV flights. I don't see why other airlines didn't do the same.
DeleteOsim ako Hrvati ne budu dva puta godisnje dolazili svi iz Stutgarta linija ce biti tezak fejle ako budu leteli svaki dan.
ReplyDeleteThey will fly max 2 per week seasonally.
DeleteMostar is located about two hours from both SPU and SJJ. It can serve both markets.
ReplyDeleteBut if those two cities already have an airport and low cost flights why would Mostar be used by people living in that area?
DeleteU okolini Splita zivi vise Hrvata no svih zajedno u hercegovini. Rat je dokrajcio sanse mostarskog aerodroma. Brojni Hercegovci sve tri vere sada zive po skandinaviji, danskoj, nemackoj i nigde ih nema dovoljno za jednu postenu liniju tri puta nedeljno. Ako budu dolazili Nemci katolici onda ima jos neke sanse.
DeleteActually Mostar has a very small cathcment area with just 500,000 pax gravitating towards it.
DeleteWhat is the road network like from Mostar to the Croatian coast?
DeleteNo one will heading to the Croatian coast will you OMO. Why would they?
DeleteSPU is super expensive to fly from/to. It has no competition so far. If OMO is half price people from HR will use OMO.
Delete@Anon 5:04pm: you must be kidding, right? To get to OMO I need couple of hours first, cross the national border and then face poor connectivity. All that to save how much?
DeleteYou all know that Split-Mostar is a 2 hour drive. And everything else in the county Split-Dalmatia is closer. So you have almost whole Split-Dalmatia county (of course the'll fly out of Split, but still... look at the map, OMO is close), almost whole Dubrovnik-Neretva County, The whole West-Herzegovina and Herzegovina-Neretva canton, tourists (to a certain degree), diaspora, a few pilgrims here and there...
DeletePretty enough to fill up a 2 pw flight during summer season.
@10:04 AM
DeleteI ako se u osnovi u potpunosti slazem s tobom, ne mislim da bi linija za Mostar bila neodrziva.
I onako u opste nemaju konkurenciju, a mogu koristiti Lufthanzu za povezanost.
Tako da je glavno postaviti let iz nekog haba koji je dovoljno povezan da se potencijalni putnici iz razlicitih krajeva mogu "sakupiti"...
This will result with about 50.000 new passengers annually which is great news for the airport.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the status of the reconstruction of mostar Airport. Did they start work like they announced?
ReplyDeleteThey have made some small upgrades to the terminal and apron.
DeleteFingers crossed that the flights will work out.
ReplyDeleteBNX take note and see how it is done!
ReplyDeleteI hardly think they should use OMO as an example to look up to.
DeleteI simply cannot understand that things are like this at BNX in 2017. Ridiculous.
DeleteThere is nobody in charge at BNX who is even able to take a note about anything concerning not only civil aviation but any other lines of work as well.
DeleteBravo Bosna i HERCEGOVINA!
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago a consortium of Italian airports was interested in taking over Mostar Airport. Anyone knows what happened with that?
ReplyDeleteNothing obviously
DeleteGood news and nice to see some good news coming from Bosnia. All the best to all the airports in BiH.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank God for some good news! Really nice to see and hear that! Lets hope for even more scheduled flights in the future. Completely agree with the GM's statement "When one comes the others will follow".
DeleteOthers will follow if there will be demand, not because some other airline started flying there.
DeleteGo Mostar!
ReplyDeleteThey talked up Eurowings so much saying they will launch flights for sure this winter and nothing. I really hope that they won't delay these new flights again.
ReplyDeleteNice to see that both routes will be launched. I think airports like Mostar, Osijek and Nis, which in my opinion are quite similar, have untapped potential. Good work.
ReplyDelete+1
Deleteon a seasonal basis.
DeleteGreat I voted for Mostar in that campaign :D
ReplyDeleteTerrible :) I voted for Brač :)
DeleteDidn't B&H Airlines used to fly from Mostar to Stuttgart at one point?
ReplyDeleteThey tried a few routes out of Mostar on several occasions. All failed like the airline itself. But yes they did fly Mostar-Stuttgart with the ATR,
DeleteBanja Luka airport will now be the only one left behind with all other Bosnian airports having scheduled flights.
ReplyDeleteExcept the upcoming Bihac and Trebinje.
DeleteI wonder if they might consider INI or LJU.
ReplyDeleteINI - LAX :)
DeleteNo surprise really. Eurowings' route manager is from Mostar. Same way Wizz Air expanded in Macedonia when one of its route managers was from Macedonia.
ReplyDeleteJust to add : Volotea significantly increasing its operations in Croatia - and number 3 in Volotea's management team is lady from Pula
DeleteHahaha... Doesn't suprise me a bit.
DeleteI still believe that TXL or DUS would be far better choice than CGN due to their better connectivity to northern Europe where huge potential customer base is. Especially because they are EW bases anyway.
ReplyDelete